Nigeria now a killing field?

A popular refrain today in Nigeria is “don’t allow yourself to be killed.” Everywhere you go: from East to West, South or North, “don’t allow yourself to be killed,” or “don’t just get killed” is on the lips of Nigerians.
That phrase is what parents tell their wards every day as they set out to school. School authorities preach same to students during assembly, the way friends counsel loved ones.
It is the reality of today’s Nigeria where life has become meaningless, worthless both to the government that swore to protect citizens, and law enforcement agencies paid from people’s taxes.
It is difficult to say whether the most recent killings in the country last week are worse than the ones before.
Rather than comparison, the intensity of brutality, the bestiality of the perpetrators that seem to portray our country once more as a killing field in a democracy, and the feeling that the lives of Nigerians are worthless are worrisome.
Often, Amnesty International (AI) accuses our security agencies of brutality and extra judicial killings, which the agencies deny.
In April, the United States released another damning report on Nigeria, accusing the government of injustice, brutality and inflicting pain on poor citizens.
The report, by the U.S. Department of State, accused the police, Department of State Services (DSS) and the military of gross abuse of power, including citizens’ brutality and arbitrary detention.
It said: “Security services perpetrated extra-judicial killings, and engaged in torture, rape, arbitrary detention, mistreatment of detainees, and destruction of property .…
“The country also suffered from widespread societal unrest, including ethnic, regional, and religious violence… and restrictions on freedoms of speech, press, assembly, and movement ….
“Although President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration began initial steps to curb corruption, authorities did not investigate or punish the majority of cases of police or military abuse.
“Authorities generally did not hold police, military, or other security forces personnel accountable for the use of excessive or deadly force or for the deaths of persons in custody ….
“Security forces’ use of excessive force, including live ammunition, to disperse demonstrators resulted in numerous killings.”
Citing the clash between the Army and Shiite on December 12, 2015 as example, the report said: “The army troops killed an undetermined number – possibly hundreds according to some credible reports – of members of the Shia group Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) in Zaria, Kaduna State, following an altercation at a roadblock that disrupted the convoy of the chief of army staff.”
It said in May 2015, following the killing and mutilation of six soldiers by cattle rustlers, “Army troops killed dozens of civilians and razed scores of houses in Wase District, Plateau State.
“Community leaders accused the military of storming several villages at night and firing indiscriminately.
“They also alleged government forces had previously killed more than 80 persons in similar attacks ….”
It said despite evidence, the military denied killing any civilian and promised to investigate, saying there were no reports of any investigation as of December 2015.
“In May, Amnesty International (AI) released a report documenting mass arbitrary arrests, unlawful detention, and torture by security forces in the North East. After the report’s release, Buhari vowed to investigate.
“This report followed a 2014 AI report alleging the routine and systematic practice of torture and other mistreatment by security services .…”
According to media reports, Alice Orobogha Akparobi, 53, was killed at Jakpa Junction, Effurun near Warri on April 30 when a soldier opened fire on a tricycle taxi conveying her and others to her daughter’s wedding.
The driver allegedly did not obey the soldier’s order to stop when he approached the junction on an environmental sanitation day when movement was restricted until 10am.
Akparobi, a mother of four and civil servant in Oleh, headquarters of Isoko South Council, was gunned down by the soldier who probably thinks the riffle is given to him to kill just anyone.
Again, what is happening in the South East and South South with the Army and police killing citizens like fowls is not acceptable. To say the reason for their being mowed down every day is because of their right to protest in a democracy is even repulsive.
On Monday, May 30, a team of soldiers and police killed dozens of members of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) and Movement for Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) in Onitsha, particularly in Nkpor, Anambra State who were marking the 49th anniversary of the declaration of Biafra on May 30, 1967.
The peaceful protests in Anambra, Imo, Enugu, Abia, Delta, Cross River, Akwa Ibom, Rivers and Ebonyi States got disrupted in Onitsha by security agents who killed, maimed, destroyed property, and arrested IPOB and MASSOB members.
The Army said troops acted in self-defence when their intervention to restore law and order was resisted.
Deputy Director of Army Public Relations, 82 Division, Nigerian Army, Enugu, Colonel Hamza Gambo, claimed the protests were designed to mar the Democracy Day celebrations held nationwide on Sunday, May 29.
His words: “Instructively, troops of 82 Division Nigerian Army, as the lead agency of the security agencies, had to invoke the extant Rules of Engagement (ROE) to resort to self-defence, protection of the strategic Niger Bridge, prevent re-enforcement of the pro-Biafran members apparently surging ahead from the far side of the strategic Niger Bridge at Onitsha.
“In the aftermath of the fire fight that ensued, many of our troops sustained varying degree of injuries .… Similarly, five members of MASSOB/IPOB were killed, eight wounded while nine were arrested for due legal actions.”
The Army worldwide is noted for professionalism. But it remains to be seen if it is so with the Nigerian Army, talk less of the police.
The position of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria (CBCN) that the killings could not be justified, no matter the provocation, is apt.
The military often claims the people they kill extra-judicially are the first to attack them. It made the same claim in its vengeful invasion and brutal attacks on members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria in Zaria.
In Onitsha, the military is saying the same thing of IPOB/MASSOB members. But could it be true the protesters who were unarmed fired at soldiers first?
Buhari must call the military and police to order and end their rampant, unprovoked aggression against unarmed civilians.
That the military/police kill unarmed protesters everywhere in Nigeria and the president is quiet is the reason AI and the U.S. insist that there are extra-judicial killings in the country.
Buhari had better speak up now or his silence means endorsement of such acts.
The essential element in a democracy is that people are able to freely express themselves, using such as peaceful marches, rallies, processions, and protests to make their voices heard.
Repression, oppression, and suppression of freedom of speech, conscience, and movement are simply negative signposts in a democracy.